Sinister Serial Sisters

It is nearly Halloween! I will have to post today as I will be well away from my computer come Halloween eve and Halloween night, what with freaky parties and tricks and treats. If you have the time to listen in on Halloween morning or evening, two shows will be on the air.

The first is a segment during a cooking show in Tampa Bay, Florida! The lovely Elizabeth Doughtery took some time away from her regular program to talk to me about some freaky Florida facts, including the haunted Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway and Zombie Ants. You can listen live, from 9am-11am EST, if you are in Florida, or tune in from the web.

http://www.860wgul.co#mce_temp_url#m

For Elizabeth, I put up this picture of a marzipan witch finger. Edible, fairly delicious, and absolutely gruesome. Once you put them in the fridge for an hour, they really start feeling like dead flesh.

And if you are interested in hearing a great show 6pm PST, 9pm EST, tune in and listen live online to Jeremy Scott’s anything-goes Halloween show.

http://lifestylewebradio.net/?page_id=1#mce_temp_url#22

And finally, you can listen to the podcast of my interview from today with the venerable Ron Ross by following the link below.

http://www.wjbc.com#mce_temp_url#/

Now that some business is in order, I will share with you one more tale of terror before I depart for Halloween Heaven. This one is about the sinister serial killers Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez, two sisters that owned and operated a brothel in Guanajuato, Mexico, in the 1950s and 60′s. The sisters had a successful business, but they also had a problem on their hands: the prostitutes who got too old to work expected continued financial support. Every good businessperson knows that carrying dead weight is unsustainable, and the sisters came up with a workable solution: killing their low-achieving sex workers. They also killed any customer who appeared to have a big wad of cash with him. When investigators finally questioned the sisters and examined the property, they found the bodies of 11 men and 80 women!

A true tale of terror for your Halloween weekend!

http://redwheelweiser.com/detail.html?id=978157863464#mce_temp_url#4

Beyond Bizarre

It occurred to me that I hadn’t put the link to buy my book! You can, of course, order it anywhere books are sold, and notify me if you can’t find it. Here is the link to the publisher’s website:

http://redwheelweiser.com/detail.html?id=9781578634644

“Half-Hangit” Maggie

I’ve been neglectful in writing of late, up to my bony elbows in pre-Halloween activities. The evolution of a gruesome cake, last minute additions to my costume, and pumpkin carving have all kept me up through the wee hours of the night. Tonight I will be finishing most of my All Hallows Eve prep, because once the 28th hits, it is all Halloween, all the time. Yes, I celebrate more than just one long dark night.

The celebrations begin early tomorrow (Thursday) morning with a quickie segment of bizarre briefs with KGAB, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. That will be at 7:07 Pacific Standard Time, and you can listen live online if you don’t happen to live in Wyoming.

http://beta.kgab-am.tritondigitalmedia.com/index.php

And then tomorrow night, Badlands Radio has invited me to be a guest for a 2.5 hour freak fest of paranormal proportions! Based in Central Texas, this station can be heard across the country online. The show starts at 6pm Pacific Time, and we will take callers! Should be quite the fest with Captain Jack Harris. You know I love anyone I have to call Captain!

http://www.paranormalradioshow.net/

I wanted to share a creepy story of life beyond the grave in honor of this fantastic time of year. The story of Maggie Dickson. Maggie was hung in 1724 in Inveresk, Scotland, presumably for attempting to self-induce an abortion. She was hung in the town square, and it is said that the hangman pulled and swung on her legs once the noose was tightened and the ladder kicked out, just for good measure. They cut Maggie down, apparently dead, and placed her body into a cart that was used by her relatives to transport her home for burial. Along the way her mourning family and friends stopped at an alehouse for a bit of consolation. While the bereaved were inside, Maggie regained consciousness. Her weak cries attracted the help of a local surgeon who helped to revive her.  Later, she was granted her freedom (it being ruled that she had taken the court-appointed punishment) and went on to live many more years, widely known as “Half-Hangit” Maggie.

For more stories like these, check out my first book The Book of the Bizarre and also Norman Adam’s book Scottish Bodysnatchers: True Accounts.

The Stars at Night are Zombie Bright

You fair Southerners know the bane that is the fire ant, and no where is the problem more predominant than deep in the heart of the great state of Texas.  But now the fire ant is facing a predator of its own. Researchers at Texas A&M University have introduced a tiny phorid fly, originally native to South America, whose task it is to lay its eggs onto fire ants. These eggs hatch into maggots inside the ant, and begin to eat away at the ants’ brains, essentially turning the fire ants into tiny little zombies. The ants wander around for up to two weeks while the maggots eat away at their brains, until at last the ants’ heads fall off. Then the maggot becomes a fly and is ready to start the cycle all over again.

Join me tomorrow when I talk with Patrick Osborne at KTRH Houston, 740 AM on the local dial, at 10:15 am CT (8:15 AM PST). Surely we will speak of zombie ants, haunted hotels, and many other things that are truly bizarre! For those who don’t live local to Houston, you can listen live online.

http://www.ktrh.com/main.html

Six Feet Lower Than Most

Tonight I have an interview with Dave Schraeder from Darkness on the Edge of Town, a paranormal radio show. In honor of such a deep, dark night (a new moon too!) I thought I’d share this particularly gruesome story about a couple of brothers who owned a funeral home in Pennsylvania and were arrested in 2008 for body part trafficking.

In 2008, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Louis and Gerald Garzone, two brothers who owned and operated a funeral home, were found guilty of selling corpses to a black-market trafficker of body parts. The gruesome duo admitted to carving up nearly 250 body parts across the country for various purposes including dental implants, hip and knee replacements, and other medical procedures.

In an elaborate and grisly scheme, the brothers would sell the bodies or body parts to a man named Michael Mastromarino, who ran the company Biomedical Tissue Services. Mastromarino would collect bodies from several funeral homes in the New Your and New Jersey area. He would send a crew to cup up the bodies and then transport the parts to various biomedical facilities—at a hefty price. Tissue from a single body could be sold for as much as $4000.

The selling of bodies for medical purposes itself is not illegal, provided the family and/or the deceased have consented, and the body has been tested and certified to be free of disease. Most of the bodies sold by the Garzones and Mastromarino were given false names and documentation, received no medical testing, and in some cases, had not been stored or refrigerated properly.

Don’t forget to tune in tonight for some truly morbid and bizarre stories on Darkness Radio!

http://www.darknessradio.com/

Chili Cook-Off

A funeral parlor in Pittsfield, Massachusetts goes to great lengths to keep business alive. The Devanny-Condron Funeral Home hopes that events such as a chili cook-off, a murder mystery show, an art walk and monthly birthday cakes at the Pittsfield Senior Center will serve as a reminder to folks that the Devanny-Condron Funeral Home is more than just a place to prepare your loved ones for burial. It is an important part of the community.

And ever wonder what happens to coffins that don’t make it six feet under? One company has created furniture that is truly to die for. They don’t come cheap, but you could make your friends jealous with a couch that would rival anything Elivra reclines in!

http://coffincouches.com/pages/100/Coffin_Couches.html

Coast to Coast Ghosts and Hosts

Now that it is just past midnight I am wired from having talked to the venerable George Noory on Coast to Coast.  So many amazing callers stories too. What a great way to kick off October.

A favorite freaky story that comes to mind after hearing a caller talk about “a dead man in the trunk” is the tale of the widow in Brazil. She was riding in the hearse when a rear end collision on the way to the cemetery caused the coffin to fly forward, striking the woman in the back of the head, and killing her instantly. Eternal love from beyond the grave? Simply a sad or strange coincidence? definitely bizarre.

Rattling Rafters and Haunting Moons

Recently I had the privilege of staying overnight at Preston Castle, an old boy’s reform school in Ione, California. It looms above the sleepy little gold rush town, peering down upon the vineyards and scraggly pines with half-shuttered window-eyes and a toothless brick grin. When we arrived the moon was on the rise, nearly full and streaming through the holes in the roof to the floorboards below. Bats swept in and out of the rafters just below the nest of white barn owls, that screeched all evening long. Hair pulling, whispers, orbs of light, and words of warning were but a few of the delights we encountered that night. As midnight approached we waited in breathless anticipation to see what wonders the witching hour would unfold.

Tonight, as the witching hour approaches, I will be in conversation with the one and only George Noory on Coast to Coast AM. I hope you can join us for a couple of hours of bizarre stories and freaky facts, and maybe you can even call in! 10pm -12pm, PST.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

And perhaps you too can visit the beautiful and haunted Preston Castle. Proceeds for overnight ghost tours benefit the restoration. You can also read more about the history of the castle, including philanthropy, abandonment, and murder, on their website! And they will be hosting a Halloween Haunt!

http://www.prestoncastle.com/